| When teaching Pranayama (Yogic Breathing | | | | healthier. There are some pranayama techniques you |
| Techniques), to a student who is new to Yoga, you | | | | can perform, during the day, without making anyone |
| realize that beginners take their breathing for granted. It | | | | aware of it. The only awareness required is yours |
| is natural to take breath and life for granted. | | | | alone. |
| Breathing happens naturally, or conditionally, without | | | | During 200-hour Yoga teacher training sessions, it is |
| giving it a thought. At the same time, breathing makes | | | | not necessary for interns to learn one hundred |
| life, itself, possible. In the Yoga Sutras, Maharishi | | | | pranayama techniques. On the other hand, any |
| Patanjali mentions pranayama as the fourth limb in the | | | | pranayama taught in a teacher course should be |
| Eight Limbed Path. | | | | thoroughly covered and practiced repeatedly. |
| Pranayama has therapeutic value, and it is the most | | | | Of the many pranayama techniques to choose from, |
| basic tool for creating a mind / body connection. | | | | Bhastrika, Kapalbhati, Anulom-Vilom, Brahmari, Udgeeth, |
| Through pranayama practice, self-realization and | | | | and Ujjayi are essential. There are many more |
| presence in our Yoga practice are discovered. | | | | valuable methods, but these six techniques are |
| As you sit on a mat practicing meditation, asana, | | | | priceless. Interns must be properly guided and |
| pranayama, mudra, bandhas, japa, or any Yogic | | | | monitored, as they will teach these techniques to their |
| method - this is just practice for daily life situations. All | | | | students. Complete understanding of six to ten |
| of these aspects should be part of your daily life, | | | | techniques is essential. |
| regardless of the location of your Yoga mat. The | | | | Therefore, the ability to completely understand the |
| easiest method to transfer into daily life is pranayama. | | | | therapeutic application, and how to perform each |
| How many people practice pranayama with every | | | | technique, is much more important than quantity of |
| breath of life? Actually no one can do this because it is | | | | pranayama methods learned. |
| impossible to monitor your breath, with complete | | | | At the 200-hour level, it is better to know the |
| awareness, for days at a time. You have to go to | | | | application and mechanics of six essential pranayama |
| sleep sometime. The moment you go to sleep, your | | | | methods thoroughly, than it is to learn one hundred |
| breathing will not be monitored, and it will take an | | | | techniques. Consider this: After the teacher training is |
| unconscious course. | | | | over, how many graduates will remember more than |
| However, if you make a concerted effort to practice | | | | six techniques? |
| pranayama throughout the day, you will feel much | | | | |